Quote:
Originally Posted by kdslf
The short of it is my mom has had psychotic episodes (possibly others unknown) starting, supposedly, in 1973; following a long "respite", 1994, 2003 and 2016. To be clear, that's 4 known psychotic episodes within 43 years. Enigmatic - yes. Strange - very. The episodes have always been no more than 4, possibly 5 days long, at which time she gradually becomes more herself. Oh, and she's a Christian Scientist, which means she doesn't go to doctors; so that's why this remains an enigma. Incidentally, "Christian Science" is Latin for "neither Christian nor science"...... 
Her affect is energetic. She has a very strong personality - that was fun growing up. She hasn't ever displayed anything I would remotely attribute to depressive symptoms though. This suggests the possibility of unipolar mania, which is under-researched, but on paper this diagnosis might fit. The apparent rarity of the episodes, assuming less severe episodes don't occur with no one-the-wiser, presents some enigma I would think. A study has been published on unipolar (no depression) mania, and it indicates the DSM lumps it with Bipolar 1...even though it's just "one pole", apparently. It apparently isn't getting much respect 
My dad has beared the brunt of her episodes, having to make sure she doesn't get herself into trouble, etc. Poor dad She hasn't had "manic" episodes necessarily - though I'm not sure that pure psychosis doesn't "count" as manic. I'm quite confident I'm less enlightened on this topic than many of you.
Any thoughts on this would be interesting. It's an unusual presentation of symptoms so no responses at all would be unsurprising. |
People can have psychotic episodes for many reasons, reasons which don't include mental illness.
Just for example, low blood sodium can cause psychosis. It's one of the many suspects when someone has no history, or a very unusual history of psychosis. My pdoc has told me about his having been a resident, called to the ER for a psychotic patient and the tests he would run before suggesting mental illness, simply because there are many other potential causes of psychosis.
Low blood sodium, for instance, can cause sudden psychosis. It can be caused by the use of other drugs/supplements which cause low sodium. It can be caused by trauma --surgeries and other "traumas." There are additional causes.
Low blood sodium is just one example of many potential causes.
Unfortunately, since your Mom won't see a doctor, it's impossible to do the work-ups to discover potential causes for her episodic psychoses.
WC